Byron Buxton is eligible to come off the injured list on Friday, but it's not likely to happen, Derek Falvey said Monday. In fact, the Twins don't expect the All-Star center fielder, who aggravated his right hip injury on Aug. 22, to accompany the Twins on their weeklong road trip to Chicago and New York, which starts that day.
Byron Buxton will stay back when Twins hit the road
Center fielder is still experiencing soreness in his hip.
August 30, 2022 at 2:10AM
"There's still some soreness in the hip. … That's going to take a little bit more time than we would initially have hoped," said Falvey, the Twins president of baseball operations. The team considered taking him along on the trip, but instead decided that his rehab treatments would be more effective at Target Field. "It's a better location for him to work. That's the short-term plan. That could change."
If Buxton's hip improves quickly, for instance, Buxton could be sent to New York for the series at Yankee Stadium which begins on Labor Day. "At this stage, it's really just seeing how he's feeling on a daily basis," Falvey said.
No Maeda in September
Kenta Maeda's possible return has been pushed back, too. The righthander, who underwent ligament replacement surgery in his pitching elbow a year ago, has been declared completely healed by Rangers surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, who performed the surgery last Sept. 1.
"He's throwing bullpens. He'll likely progress to some level of facing live hitters, live bullpen settings" during the remainder of the regular season, Falvey said. "His velocity is up. He's in the upper 80s to low 90s [miles per hour], which is good. And he feels good."
Which is why the Twins had floated the idea that he might be able to pitch out of the bullpen in September. But "we're not going to do that," Falvey said. "Just based on his progression, how important he is for next year, making sure we're in a good place, we just collectively didn't feel like it's time to say 'Go.'"
Still, Maeda will continue to throw next month to strengthen his elbow, Falvey said, and if the Twins were to qualify for the playoffs, his status could be revisited. Maeda has appeared in 25 postseason games in his career, 21 of them in a relief role.
Mahle feels ready
Tyler Mahle still doesn't know why he couldn't throw as hard as he usually does in his last start, but after throwing a bullpen session Monday, he's pretty sure it won't happen again.
"That was just a weird day, I think," the righthander said. "I'm not worried about it. I know I'll be fine. We have 36 games [remaining] — that gives me six starts. I've just got to make it through that. And then the playoffs. I doubt anyone will feel anything with the amount of adrenaline we'll have."
Mahle is also eligible to to be activated on Friday, and he said he expects to make his fourth start as a Twin this weekend in Chicago.
More injuries
Other injury updates from Falvey:
- Josh Winder will make a rehab start on Tuesday, pitching three innings for Class AAA St. Paul. The righthander has been out since mid-July with a recurrence of the impingement in his pitching shoulder that bothered him last season, too.
- Trevor Larnach will begin a rehab assignment with Class A Fort Myers by the end of the week, beginning with getting at-bats as designated hitter. "It's a matter of scar tissue and getting used to how he's feeling," Falvey said. The rookie outfielder underwent surgery in June to repair an injury to his core muscles.
- Bailey Ober could return by mid-September, probably in a bullpen role, after missing three months with a core muscle injury. The righthander has begun throwing to hitters in Fort Myers and could get into a game later this week.
- Randy Dobnak's finger injury, which sidelined him during spring training, has mostly healed and he pitched Sunday for St. Paul. It's possible he could return before the season ends.
- Miguel Sano is undergoing physical therapy three times a week to strengthen the knee injury that ended his season prematurely in July.
Moran up, Smeltzer down
Separate from all the injury news was a more mundane consideration: Devin Smeltzer's 51-pitch outing on Sunday meant he's unlikely to be available for a few days, so the Twins sent him back to St. Paul and recalled lefthander Jovani Moran.
Moran, like Smeltzer, has been optioned to the minor leagues four times this season, one short of the limit that MLB's new collective bargaining agreement places on teams to slow the constant turnover in bullpens.
Moran owns a 1.93 ERA in 23⅓ innings with the Twins this season.
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